COLCHESTER'S favourite presenter Dermot O’Leary is the bookies' favourite to take over the driving seat on BBC’s Top Gear.

The born and bred Colcestrian is being given odds of 6/4 to take over the popular motoring show, replacing disgraced frontman Jeremy Clarkson.

Clarkson was sacked after he assaulted Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in Yorkshire.

Fellow presenters James May and Richard Hammond ruled out returning to Top Gear without Clarkson, insisting it would be “lame”

with a new presenter in place of his sacked co-host.

However, BBC2 boss Kim Shillinglaw has been tasked with finding a replacement for Clarkson and Dermot, who attended Colchester Sixth Form College, is considered to be favourite after he ended his eight-year stint as host of ITV’s The X Factor.

Witham’s Olly Murs has also been linked with a role, but he is an outsider.